Fence mower

ABSTRACT

The invention has to do with utilizing a fence mower for mowing vegetation such as grass, weeds and the like in hard to reach places such as under and beyond fences supported by fence posts which vegetation is inaccessible to the conventional type mowers heretofore disclosed. The mower is operated by means of a lifting supporting arm attached to a wheeled tractor which supports and guides the mower durings operative and non-operative positions. The lower edge of the bottom portion of a sleeve and the upper spring held sleeve of a lower companion sleeve holds opposed cam faces on said sleeves in meshed position yieldingly, but upon the cutting element protruding through and under the fence coming into contact with a vertical fence post supporting the fence. The forward movement of the tractor will cause the blade cutting element under the fence contacting the post to turn backward 90* and thus allow the meshed cam faces of the lower companion spring held sleeve which is attached to the lower collar or housing which carries the blades to turn 90* and the matching cam face edges of the upper and lower sleeves to again releasably mesh and held only by tension of the spring will allow the cutting blade next under the fence to mow the vegetation under the fence forward thereof to the next succeeding fence post.

[72] Inventor:

United States Patent Hintze, J r.

[54] FENCE MOWER George Hintze, Jr., 2411 Avenue G, Nederland, Tex.77627 [22] Filed: Aug. 28, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 67,688

Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant ExaminerJ. N. EskovitzAttorney-William E. Kinnear [57] ABSTRACT The invention has to do withutilizing a fence mower for mowing vegetation such as grass, weeds andthe 1 Oct. 31, 1972 like in hard to reach places such as under andbeyond fences supported by fence posts which vegetation is inaccessibleto the conventionaltype mowers heretofore disclosed. The mower isoperated by means of a lifting supporting arm attached to a wheeledtractor which supports and guides the mower durings operative andnon-operative positions. The lower edge of the bottom portion of asleeve and the upper spring held sleeve of a lower companion sleeveholds opposed cam faces on said sleeves in meshed position yiel dingly,but upon the cutting element protruding through and under the fencecoming into contact with a vertical fence post supporting the fence.Theforward movement of the tractor will cause the blade cutting elementunder the fence contacting the post to turn backward 90 and thus allowthe meshed cam faces of the lower companion spring held sleeve which isattached to the lower collar or housing which carries the blades to turn90 and the matching cam face edges of the upper and lower sleeves toagain releasably mesh and held only by tension of the spring will allowthe cutting blade next under the fence to mow the vegetation under thefence forward thereof to the next succeeding fence post.

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDBIIT 31 m2 3. 701; 238

SHEET 1 BF 2 l lm N INVENTOR. I GEORGE H/lvrzg JR.

ATTORNEY P'A'TENTEDHCIQI ln 3.701.238

sum 2 or 2 INVENTOR 6502 65 MN r25, J2.

FENCE MOWER cutting vegetation under and beyond fences that washeretofore inaccessible to any other type mower disclosed and is adaptedfor keeping mowed the unwanted and unsightly vegetation growingtherebeneath to be neatly mowed.

An object of the invention is to provide a fence mower of the characterdescribed which has releasably multiple cutting blades one of which isadapted to be placed and to protrude through and under a fence forcutting the vegetation thereunder and beyond, and, upon said bladetherebeneath contacting a post supporting the fence the forward movementof the tractor carrying the mower will cause said blade beneath thefence upon contacting the post to turn backward 90 and allow the next ofthe preferably four cutting blades similarly mounted to cut thevegetation between that post and the next successive post and the nextensuing blade and other sucessive blades to be turned backward 90 uponeach contacting a post until the vegetation under said fence between andbeyond said posts in a fencedarea to be completely mowed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fence mower of thecharacter described whereby the tractor carrying and operating fencemower provides a power take-off drive shaft unit to turn and drive thedrive shaft of the mower through endless belt or roller chain means andis provided with a supporting arm for placing and holding the cuttingelements of the mower in operative position under a fence and forremoving same from under the fence to inoperative position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fence mower of thecharacter described whereby the tractor supplies power to place acutting element of said mower into operative position and to withdrawsaid mower into inoperative position under and beyond a fence and backbetween the posts supporting said fence and to supply the forwardmovement to feed the cutting elements of the mower forward to cut thevegetation under the fence alternately by each of the cutting elementsin successive cadence upon each blade encountering the next successivepost by the forward movement of the tractor and thereby turn saidcutting element backward so that the next forward cutting blade elementto turn into position under the fence forward of said last mentionedpost in position for cutting the vegetation between said last mentionedpost and next successive post forward thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a mower of thecharacter described whose lower portion is rotatable to the degreepredetermined to cause the cutting elements supported and carried by thelower portion of the mower to alternatley and at spaced intervalsyielding and releasably turn a predetermined number of degrees uponcontacting a post supporting the fence under which one blade cuttingelement of a plurality of blade cutting elements when moved forward bythe tractor feeding the blade cutting element forward to perform thecutting of the vegetation under the fence without injury to the posts soencountered, and, whereby the upper portion of the mower remainsstationary while the lower portion thereof is actuated in its turningmovement by the forward movement of the tractor causing the cuttingblade under the fence to contact the next ensuing post and uponencountering same will force said blade to turn backward and thusplacing the next ensuing blade in position under the fence for cuttingthe vegetation under the fence, and in like manner each succesive bladecutting element is operatied to perform in repetitive manner in beingturned into position for cutting the vegetation under and beneath afence.

These and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious andwill in part be more fully disclosed in the specifications, oneembodiment of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view in elevation and partly sectional showingthe fence mower held and carried by the supporting arm from the tractorwhich tractor is shown in fragmentary view.

FIG. 2 is cross-section view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

The invention will be better understood from a more detailed descriptionthereof reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein likenumeraled parts therein denote like numeraled parts in thefollowingdescription of the invention.

The numeral 1 denotes the supporting arm of the wheeled tractor 2. Thetractor 2 has power take-off drive shaft 3 with toothed sprocket 4 belowand pulley 5 mounted on said drive shaft 3 above the top of saidsupporting arm 1. Attached to the arm 1 by bolts and nuts 6-6 is theupper portion 7 of the mower generally indicated at 8. The fence mower 8consists generally of the said upper portion 7 and the lower portion 9.A drive shaft 10 is disposed vertically through said upper portion 7 andsaid lower portion 9 and the lower end of said drive shaft 10 has offsetto form eccentric crank adjacent its lower end to provide an eccentriccrank which will upon turning of the drive shaft 10 cause thehorizontally disposed reciprocating toothed upper blades 11 (four innumber) to reciprocally slide along the top sides of the underlyingstationary toothed blades 12 (four in number) in reciprocating motion sothat the cutting edges of said upper reciprocating blades 11 willshuttle back and forth over the lower stationary blades 12 to cut thegrowing vegetation 39 on the ground indicated at 40 over with the bladecombinations pass during their respective cutting operatrons.

The upper portion 7 of the mower which is attached to the supporting arm1 by its head section 13 which has central hole 14 therethrough toaccomodate the rotating drive shaft 10 that has toothed sprocket 15 andpulley 16 thereabove mounted adjacentthe upper end of said drive shaft10 in opposite relation to the respective offset toothed sprocket 4 andpulley 5 mounted on the power take-off drive shaft 3. An endless linkroller chain 17 is threaded around said toothed sprockets 4 and 15 sothat upon rotation of the power take-0H drive shaft 4 of the tractor 2the chain 17 will cause sprocket 15 to turn and impart rotation to driveshaft 10 of the mower to actuate pivoting links 18 (four in number) thatare pivotally connected on inner ends of the upper reciprocating toothedblades 11 by headed pivot pins 19 (four in number) and the outer ends ofsaid pivoting links 18 are connected by headed pivot pins 20 (four innumber) at spaced intervals circumferrentially positioned on a disc 21.The disc 21 has central hole through which the throw or offset 22 ofdrive shaft 10 revolves. In each of the lower stationary blades 12 (fourin number) are two holes 2323 and headed bolts or rivets 24-24 extendtherethrough and through 2 elongated slots 2525 in each upperreciprocating blade 11.

The pulleys and 16 have an endless belt A which surrounds and tightensaround said pulleys 5 and 16 so that upon rotation of the power take-offdrive shaft 3 by the motor of the tractor 2 will impart rotation to thedrive shaft of the mower as a double guarantee that the drive shaft 10will receive rotative movement through the means of the power take-offdrive shaft 3. However, the pulleys with belt, or, sprockets with chainsmay be used independently of each other. The toothed sprockets 4 and andthe pulleysS and 16 respectively are secured to their respective driveshafts by means of set screws or bolts 26.

The stationary cutting blades 12 are attached rigidly at .27 to collaror hollow housing 28 and being the terminatingend of the lower portion 9of the mower assembly. Said collar 28 has upper shoulder 29 againstwhich the bottom end of the coil spring 30' bears. The upper end of saidspring 30 is under constant tension and also bears against the lowershoulder 31 above the reduced portion 32 of sleeve 33 of the lowerportion 9 of the mower assembly 8. The upper end of the sleeve 33terminates in four upwardly facing cam faces 34, that having four highand four low cam faces 34 which mesh at 35 with the companion facinglower cam faces 36, that is, of four high and four low cam faces on thelower edges of the upper sleeve 37 of the upper portion 7 of the mowerassembly. The coil spring 30 is under tension between the two opposingshoulders 29 and 31 so as to hold said opposed matching cam faces 34 and36 yieldingly meshed into each other, thus allowing the sleeve 32 andthe collar 28, links 18, upper blades 11, lower blades 12, drive shaft10 and its throw or offset 22, circular disc 21 and its pivoting pins 22to yieldingly turn 90 each time the particular blade 11 and 12 thatprotrudes under the fence encounter a fence post 37 during the operationof cutting vegetation under and beneath a fence.

The collar 28 has horizontal windows 38 (four in number as shown in FIG.2 of the drawings to accommodate movable pivoting links 18 (four innumber) and through which said links work in circular eccentric motionduring each revolution of the throw or offset 22 of the drive shaft 10to perform the cutting operation of the blades 1 l and 12in cutting thevegetation 39 growing from the ground indicated at 40. A row of ballbearings 41 are mounted in bearing recesses 42 and 43 as bearingsupports for the offset 22 of drive shaft 10 of the mower assembly.

In the 90 turning of the lower portion 9 in the operation of the mowerthe whole lower portion 9,and its components parts connected theretosuch as sleeve 33, reduced sleeve 32, collar 28, upper reciprocatingblades 1 1, lower stationary blades 12 turn counter clockwise 90 uponthe blade 11 and its respective blade 12 encountering post 37 so thatthe next forward successive blade 11 and its respective blade 12 arerotated 90 around the post 37 and remains under fence after havingsucceeded to the position of the former blade 11 and its respectiveblade 11 and 12 has turned backward During the counter clockwise 90movement of said blades 11 and 12 as a set encounters a post by theforward movement of the tractor 2 forcing such action the meshed camfaces 34 of lower sleeve 33 will have turned and lowered a sufficientdistance to force coil spring 30 to compress downward between shoulders29 and 31 so that the high points (four in number) of 0am faces 34 onsleeve 33 will disengage from the low points (four in number) and willmesh again upon 90 turn with the high points (four in number) and thelow points (four in number) of the companion meshing cam faces 36 ofsleeve 7a-of the upper portion 7 of the mower assembly. During such 90turning movements the spline 32a moves downward a sufficient distance inspline groove 33a to a position in spline groove 33a to allow the highpoints on the cam faces 34 and 36 to clear each other and the highpoints to mesh in the low points at point 35 each time a blade 11 and 12contacts a post 37. This is accomplished since the lower sleeve 33 isspring held and will move downwardly and depress said spring 30 to allowsleeve 33 to revolve 90 after which its cam faces 34 will be raisedupward by the spring 30 upon and during 90 turning of blades 11 and willmesh again in the stationary cam faces 36 of the upper stationary sleeve7a caused by the forward movement of the tractor to allow the90 degreerotating movement of lower portion 9 and its connected parts while upperportion 7 and its stationary parts remain in fixed stationary position.The upper supporting arm 1 is shown in FIG. 1 as being attached to leftside of the tractor 2 and this arrangement positions the mower on theleft side of said tractor 2 whereby said mower is moved tocut under afence in a clockwise direction inside of a fenced area, but, uponplacing the supporting arm 1 on the right side of the tractor 2 andattaching the fence mower thereto on the right side of the tractor thetractor when so arranged with the mower permits moving the tractor andmower in counterclockwise forward movement a fence and mow the grass orvegetation under the fence in forward counterclockwise movement insidethe fenced area and the blades of the mower upon contacting a post whiletraveling counterclockwise inside a fenced area will turn backward 90and next ensuing forward blade will cut the vegetation under the fenceuntil it encounters a post and this same repetitive procedure ismaintained as when the tractor and mower was arranged on the left sideand the tractor and mower traveled clockwise inside the fenced area.

The fence mower is adapted for use in solving the problem of cuttingvegetation growing under fences and the like which is inaccessible toany other type mower known. Heretofore the cutting of vegetation underfences was done by hand with hand tools. Further, a hazard is eliminatedfor uncut vegetation under fences becomes tinder for tires which destroyfences that have to be rebuilt at great expense.

it is understood that two, three, four or more cutting blades may beassembled on a collar and be employed with my fence mower, however,preferably four blades have been disclosed in one embodiment of theinvention. I

It is obvious that many changes in details of construction andarrangement of the parts of the invention may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a fence mower connected to a wheeled tractor by a supporting armfor placing and holding a plurality of blades of said mower alternatelyfor cutting the vegetation beneath and beyond the fence and including aplurality of reciprocating blades, a centrally disposed drive shaft, anupper stationary portion and a lower revolvable portion, said driveshaft disposed through said upper and lower portions and rotatabletherethrough, outer sleeves on both said upper and lower portions whichare matched in end to end relation by a plurality of facing companioncam faced edges meshing said sleeves in releasably connected abutment,the lower revolvable portion turns a predetermined number of degreeswith respect to the stationary upper portion upon a blade positionedbeneath the fence contacting a post of the fence andthe forward movementof the tractor feeding the blades forward will cause said blade socontacting said post to turn backward said predetermined degrees forplacing said next ensuing blade of said plurality of blades to turn saidsame predetermined number of degrees to position said last named bladeunder said fence for cutting said vegetation under said fence.

2. Incorporating claim 1 and including a disc having central holetherethrough, said centrally disposed drive shaft terminating in anoffset portion adjacent its lower end and rotatable through said hole insaid disc to provide an eccentric operable rotatable crank to impartrotation to said disc to operate a plurality of reciprocating bladesduring the cutting operation of said blades.

3. Incorporating claim 2 and including said upper stationary portionterminating in a collar, a plurality of lower blades attached to saidcollar and extending outwardly therefrom, upper reciprocating bladesoperable in reciprocating movement over said lower blades to performcutting operation of the vegetation.

4. Incorporating claim 3 and including link means having one end thereofpivotally attached to said disc at spaced intervals circumferentiallyaround said disc and the other ends of said link means being pivotallyconnected at a common point on each of said upper reciprocating blades.

5. Incorporating claim 4 and including a drive shaft on said tractorcoupled with power rotating means thereof to impart rotation to saiddrive shaft thereon and endless turning means surrounding pulley meanson said drive shaft of said tractor an the drive shaft on said mowerwhereby rotation is imparted to said drive shaft on said mower forrevolving the drive shaft on said mower to operate the blades of saidmower to perform the cutting operation of the mower.

6. Incorporating claim 1 and including said supporting arm connectingsaid mower to said tractor and so positioned and arranged on saidtractor that the mower is attached to the left side of the tractor toenable the operator of the tractor to move clockwise inside a fencesurrounding a fenced area to permit the operator of said tractor toperform the cutting operation of the vegetation under and beyond saidfenced area.

'7. Incorporating claim 1 and including said supporting arm connectingsaid mower to said tractor and so positioned and arranged on saidtractor that the mower is attached to the right side of the tractor toenable the operat r of the tract r to ngove counterclockwise inside aence surroun mg a enced area to permit the operator of said tractor toperform the cutting operation of the vegetation under and beyond saidfenced area.

1. In a fence mower connected to a wheeled tractor by a supporting armfor placing and holding a plurality of blades of said mower alternatelyfor cutting the vegetation beneath and beyond the fence and including aplurality of reciprocating blades, a centrally disposed drive shaft, anupper stationary portion and a lower revolvable portion, said driveshaft disposed through said upper and lower portions and rotatabletherethrough, outer sleeves on both said upper and lower portions whichare matched in end to end relation by a plurality of facing companioncam faced edges meshing said sleeves in releasably connected abutment,the lower revolvable portion turns a predetermined number of degreeswith respect to the stationary upper portion upon a blade positionedbeneath the fence contacting a post of the fence and the forwardmovement of the tractor feeding the blades forward will cause said bladeso contacting said post to turn backward said predetermined degrees forplacing said next ensuing blade of said plurality of blades to turn saidsame predetermined number of degrees to position said last named bladeunder said fence for cutting said vegetation under said fence. 2.Incorporating claim 1 and including a disc having central holetherethrough, said centrally disposed drive shaft terminating in anoffset portion adjacent its lower end and rotatable through said hole insaid disc to provide an eccentric operable rotatable crank to impartrotation to said disc to operate a plurality of reciprocating bladesduring the cutting operation of said blades.
 3. Incorporating claim 2and including said upper stationary portion terminating in a collar, aplurality of lower blades attached to said collar and extendingoutwardly therefrom, upper reciprocating blades operable inreciprocating movement over said lower blades to perform cuttingoperation of the vegetation.
 4. Incorporating claim 3 and including linkmeans having one end thereof pivotally attached to said disc at spacedintervals circumferentially around said disc and the other ends of saidlink means being pivotally connected at a common point on each of saidupper reciprocating blades.
 5. Incorporating claim 4 and including adrive shaft on said tractor coupled with power rotating means thereof toimpart rotation to said drive shaft thereon and endless turning meanssurrounding pulley means on said drive shaft of said tractor an thedrive shaft on said mower whereby rotation is imparted to said driveshaft on said mower for revolving the drive shaft on said mower tooperate the blades of said mower to perform the cutting operation of themower.
 6. Incorporating claim 1 and including said supporting armconnecting said mower to said tractor and so positioned and arranged onsaid tractor that the mower is attached to the left side of the tractorto enable the operator of the tractor to move clockwise inside a fencesurrounding a fenced area to permit the operator of said tractor toperform the cutting operation of the vegetation under and beyond saidfenced area.
 7. Incorporating claim 1 and including said supporting armconnecting said mower to said tractor and so positioned and arranged onsaid tractor that the mower is attached to the right side of the tractorto enable the operator of the tractor to move counterclockwise inside afence surrounding a fenced area to permit the operator of said tractorto perform the cutting operation of the vegetation under and beyond saidfenced area.